1. Through Ellis Island and Angel Island
Immigration
Through Ellis Island and Angel Island

2. Data 1865 – 1914 Appx. 25 million immigrants came to the U.S.
24 million from Europe
1.3 million from Canada
425,000 from Latin America
450,000 from Asia

3. Why immigrate to the United States?
Push Factors
Pull Factors
Farm poverty and worker uncertainty
Wars and compulsory military service
Political tyranny
Religious oppression
Population pressure
Plenty of land and work
Higher standard of living
Democratic political system
Opportunity for social advancement

4. European Immigrants
Europe experienced rapid population growth in the 1800’s
Crowded cities
Lack of jobs
Food shortages
Crop failures such as the Irish Potato famine
Social class restrictions
Italy suffered from high rents and a cholera epidemic
Poland and Russia had land shortages, unemployment, high taxes, and a long military draft
Jews suffered from organized anti-jewish attacks in Russia and Poland
Armenian Catholics suffered persecution and massacre at the hands of Turks in the mostly Muslim Ottoman Empire.

5. Edward Corsi, In the Shadow of Liberty, 1935
I looked at that statue with a sense of bewilderment, half doubting its reality. Looming shadowy through the mist, it brought silence to the decks of the Florida. This symbol of America – this enormous expression of what we had all been taught was the inner meaning of this new country we were coming to – inspired awe in the hopeful immigrants. Many older persons among us, burdened with a thousand memories of what they were leaving behind, had been openly weeping ever since we entered the narrower waters on our final approach toward the unknown. Now somehow steadied, I suppose, by the concreteness of the symbol of America’s freedom, they dried their tears.”

6. Emma Lazarus – “The New Colossus” - 1883
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

7. Ellis Island
1st & 2nd class passengers had a short inspection on deck and then were allowed to enter New York.
Steerage passengers had to go to Ellis Island first
Tiny island in New York Harbor
Large 3 story processing center
Medical inspection
Disabled or chronically ill people would face deportation
Legal Interview
Up to 29 questions
“Do you have work waiting for you in the U.S. ?”
20% failed either the medical or legal inspection

8. Ellis Island Failed inspection?
Those with treatable illnesses were sent to the Ellis Island hospital
Legal failures went before a Board of Special Inquiry
Ultimately, only about 2% of immigrants were turned away and deported back to their country of origin.

9. Reactions to European Immigrants
Immigrants were generally poor and uneducated
Looked down on by American society
Strong sense of nativism
An extreme dislike of immigrants by native born people
Saw immigrants as an economic threat
Native workers worried that immigrants were taking their jobs and lowering wages
Faced overcrowding in cities and poor living conditions
Push for the Americanization of immigrants
Feared that increased immigration posed a threat to American values and traditions
Promoted loyalty to American values

10. Chinese Immigrants
Thousands of immigrants were brought over to lay railroad tracks
Thousands more joined the gold rush
Majority of the immigrants were men
Most came through San Francisco
Many worked in agriculture
Would work for less money than white workers

11. Chinese Immigrants
1870’s – a depression and a drought hits California’s economy
Blamed the Chinese because they were easy targets
Mob violence against the Chinese erupts
Driven out of their homes
Murdered
Strong racial component
Increased feelings of nativism

12. Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
Prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers, skilled or unskilled, for 10 years
Prevented Chinese already in the U.S. from becoming citizens
First time the U.S. restricted immigration based solely on nationality or race
Allowed a handful of exceptions
Merchants, teachers, students, and relatives of existing Chinese citizens
Immigration slowed
1882 – 40,000

13. Angel Island - 1910 The “Ellis Island of the West”
More secure than the San Francisco processing center
Prevented illegal immigration
Designed to enforce the Chinese Exclusion Act
More rigorous physical and legal examinations than Ellis Island
Could take days to complete and detainees could be held for years
Detainees were locked in overcrowded, unsanitary barracks
10% of arrivals were deported

14. Other Asian Groups
The Chinese Exclusion Act created a shortage of farm labor
Farm owners looked to Japan, Korea, and the Philippines for workers
Very similar experience to Chinese immigrants
Prejudice
Hostility
Discrimination
1906 – San Francisco segregated their schools
President Theodore Roosevelt convinced them to repeal the segregation rule
1907 – 1908: “Gentlemen’s Agreement”
Japan agreed not to let laborers immigrate
The U.S. agreed to allow wives, children and parents of Japanese in the U.S. to immigrate

15. Latin American Immigrants
The need for farmworkers was also filled by Mexican immigrants
Came to escape poverty and civil unrest in Mexico
Higher wages in the U.S.
Suffered at the hands of native-born Americans
Scorned as inferior to whites
Racist attitudes led to discrimination
Kept in low-level jobs and denied access to public facilities
Segregated schools

16. French Canadian Immigrants
Were seeking greater opportunities than they had at home
Majority of them settled in New England and around the Great Lakes
Worked in textile mills and lumber camps
Spoke French and were Catholic
Resisted Americanization
Came under attack by nativists
“The Canadian French are the Chinese of the Eastern States. They care nothing for our institutions…Their purpose is merely to sojourn [stay temporarily] a few years as aliens…They are a horde of industrial invaders, not a stream of stable settlers.” Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor, Twelfth Annual Report, 1881